The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) is a youth development scheme initiated by the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
. The intention of the EPPP is to improve the quality and quantity of home-grown players produced by top English clubs. Measures introduced by the EPPP to free up movement of younger players by establishing a hierarchy of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
academies
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
in England and fixing the
transfer fees between academies have proved controversial and some smaller clubs closed their academies in response to the changes.
Support
The EPPP was accepted by the 72 member clubs of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
on 20 October 2011. The clubs voted 46 in favour and 22 against, with three no-shows and one abstention.
Principles and focus
The
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
published the following list of principles upon which the EPPP was designed after its ratification by the members of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
:
* Increase the number and quality of home-grown players gaining professional contracts in the clubs and playing first-team football at the highest level
* Create more time for players to play and be coached
* Improve coaching provision
* Implement a system of effective measurement and quality assurance
* Positively influence strategic investment into the Academy System, demonstrating value for money
* Seek to implement significant gains in every aspect of player development
The plan aims to improve youth development by focusing on the following:
* Allowing clubs to have more coaching time with their young players
* Helping clubs foster links with local schools in order to help young players get the best out of their football education as well as the academic side
* Allowing clubs that have earned a top category grading to recruit young talent from further afield than is permitted under the current rules
* Working with the Football League to review the current system used for determining compensation
The plan proposes the modernisation of talent identification and recruitment including research in such areas as
physiological parameters,
relative age effect
The term relative age effect (RAE), also known as birthdate effect or birth date effect, is used to describe a bias, evident in the upper echelons of youth sport and academia, where participation is higher amongst those born earlier in the relevan ...
s,
psychological profiling
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
, motivation, decision making, technical ability and attrition rates.
Changes from previous academy system
The principal changes from the former academy system are:
Abolition of the "90-minute" rule – Academies were only allowed to sign players aged under 18 if they resided within 90 minutes' travel time of the training facility. This has historically provided each club with a "catchment area". There were some exceptions to the rule to provide for players living in remote areas. Larger clubs were prevented from taking youth players away from home at a young age for training.
A four-tier academy system – It is proposed that there will be four gradings of academies, with the highest rated academies being able to sign the best players and command the largest fees. Category 1 academies will have high contact time with young players, require a minimum of 18 full-time staff and an operational budget of £2.5m. Academies will be reviewed every two years and re-categorised if necessary. Categorisation is the result of an independent audit.
A fixed tariff for transfers of players under 18 – The proposed tariff is:
This will replace the current system of compensation determined by an independent tribunal. Thus, a 14-year-old player who spends 6 years at the club (Category 3) will command an initial fee of £46,500 (£3,000 × 3 + £12,500 × 3). Further fixed fees are payable on the player making first team appearances in any professional senior competition:
Youth league system
The old youth league system will be abolished and replaced by the
Professional Development League
The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performance P ...
. Clubs with high-category academies will compete against others of the same standard in the top tier and so on. A number of clubs have made their applications for academy status public, including
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
,
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
,
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, and
West Ham United.
Controversy
The EPPP has been greeted with scepticism from parts of the
English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. Some claim the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
has blackmailed the Football League by threatening to remove all youth development funding if the Football League did not accept the new deal. It has been described by some as a way of catering for only the elite. The new rules mean that a Category 1 academy can go to any other training ground to watch a player (giving 48 hours' notice) and effectively buy the player for a fixed fee starting from £3,000.
Hereford United
Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...
,
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...
and
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to:
* Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset
* Yeovil Town L.F.C.
Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...
folded their academies at the start of the 2012–13 season, stating that the cost of implementing the EPPP was part of the reason for this.
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
closed their academy at the end of the 2015–16 season, citing the EPPP as a reason for the closure. Bolton also downgraded their academy in 2015 in order to save money. They downgraded it again in 2020.
Salford City scrapped their academy before the start of the 2020–2021 season.
BBC Sport: Salford City: League Two club choose to scrap Under-18 team"
/ref> On 7 December 2020, Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
announced they would be replacing their development squad with a "B" team and their academy with a "C" team.[Birmingham City: CLUB STATEMENT - ACADEMY UPDATE"]
/ref>
References
External links
Elite Player Performance Plan from http://www.premierleague.com
{{Reserve and Youth football in England
Premier League
Youth football in England
2012 establishments in England